At one point in the movie Antony, the priest played by Chemban Vinod Jose, talks about the peculiarity of the unlikeliest relationship between two individuals and gives the credit to the almighty for making such things happen. This Joshiy movie is trying to tap into the warmth and jovial side of one such relationship. With familiar tropes evidently visible throughout the film, this action entertainer works more as a feel-good drama with no big surprises.
SPOILER ALERT! Antony Anthrapper, our title character, is a notorious goon, and in the very first scene itself, we see him brutally killing another goon. A series of events happen around this particular murder, and long story short, Antony becomes the local guardian of the daughter of the guy whom he killed. The relationship between this duo and how that evolves is what we see in Joshiy’s Antony.
Written by Rajesh Varma, the script has a very conventional format, and it does a fairly good job of establishing the world of Antony, including his priest friend, his godfather Avaran, and a handful of men, who are ready to do anything for him. From a usual Joshiy action package, the movie slightly drifts into a feel-good sort of space when the relationship between Anna and Antony attains some ease. Even though it is kind of predictable, the mixture of action with that cool-dad-chill-daughter flavor sort of makes the movie an easy watch. The major demerit of the film was its inability to construct a solid antagonist. Aadu fame Hariprashanth, who plays the main antagonist Tarzan along with Jinu Joseph, felt very inconsequential, and the screenplay rarely explored the greyness of the fight considering the fact that Antony is the guy who killed Anna’s father.
There is a style in which Joju George plays the cool and rough characters, and that is somewhat repeated here as well. Considering the over-the-top nature of the movie along with the sentimental elements in the story, I would say that style works for the film. When it comes to Kalyani Priyadarshan, the movie sort of demands her to be that fighter who can impress a rough guy like Antony. But with Shyam Sasidharan using multiple cuts for one punch of Anna, her expressions weren’t enough to make us believe that she could be that fighter. Ann Amie has done a smooth job yet again in dubbing for Kalyani. Chemban Vinod Jose as the priest Paul was fun to watch. Nyla Usha was fine in a role that was sort of created to make Antony look like the return of team Porinju Mariam Jose. Vijayaraghavan is there as Avaran along with Asha Sharath, Jinu Joseph, Appani Sarath, Rajesh Sharma, Sreekanth Murali, etc.
The typical style we see in action entertainers is set by Joshiy, and he pretty much followed the same visual style filled with medium close-ups in this one as well. What was really good about the movie was its pacing. There are no significant developments happening in the script. But still, there was an agility to the narration which sort of kept us interested in the story. In the movie’s second act, where the focus is more on Antony and Anna, the film becomes a comfortable watch with an even amount of humor, sentiments, and action. When the theme song is used in a less vocal way, the background score felt thumping, while in some areas it felt really loud and forcefully verbal. As I already said, the inability of the script to establish the villains in a solid way makes the film’s climax a bit hasty.
Antony is not a movie where Joshiy has tried to reinvent himself. But the story has an interesting premise, which luckily never became too cheesy when it evolved into a proper script. With a fair enough mix of action and sentiments, Antony eventually becomes a passable action package that never bores you.
With a fair enough mix of action and sentiments, Antony eventually becomes a passable action package that never bores you.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
